"Promise. Don't misunderstand me-you are quite vexing." He touches his tender jaw. "And you hit like a man. But you didn't cause his illness. That is his doing."

Because you can't keep up the illusion forever," I say. "No one has that much magic.

Just because you're funny doesn't mean you get to be cruel.

It's so laughable that it's somewhere beyond comedy and right into tragedy again.

I hate high heels. Walking in high heels for eight hours a day should be forbidden by the Geneva Convention.

I know because I read. Might I suggest you try it?

For once, Evie didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t really thought of her uncle as very human. He was more like a textbook who occasionally remembered to put on a tie. But it was clear that he was, indeed, human, with a deep wound named Rotke.